Rome - The Catholic Pilgrimage

Here we are! Rome, Italy! I visited Rome about 6 years ago with 3 of my college friends.  When Hubby and I planned this trip I asked him where we really wanted to go and without hesitation he replied, "Rome and the Vatican of course"!

Just when we thought we saw some magnificent churches, museums and artifacts, low and behold we entered Rome and the Vatican. It is the Manhattan of Italy! We had a guided tour through Vatican Museum where we saw priceless works of art, tapestries, and of course, the Sistine Chapel. We were amazed with the amount of history found within the little city of the Vatican. We weren't allowed to take many pictures, especially within the Sistine Chapel so pics are limited during this stop. It truly was amazing to see the chapel and how one person managed to paint with such detail on a ceiling. We were flabbergasted!

After the tour of the museum our guide led us to the mother of all churches, St.Peter's Basilica, the world's largest church. We walked through the church, rubbed St. Peter's foot for good luck and gawked at all of the statues and details throughout. About half of the pope's are buried in St. Peter's and one was even on display (well, a molding of him). Words can not even describe the amazement of this church.

After the Basilica we had some time to shop at the Piazza San Pietro (St. Peter's Square) and eat some lunch before heading to the Arch of Constantine and the Colosseum. Quick but funny story. When I was in Rome with my girls we did the same sight seeing tour. My friend M and I ended up at the Colosseum and decided that we wanted a picture with a gladiator. Being young and naive we found one and after shouting "formaggio" the smiling gladiator demanded large sums of money for his picture. After many minutes of arguing with this Russell Crowe wannabe we handed him money (really no idea but we knew it was alot) and were on our way. So, back to present day, Hubby and I are about to step foot on the grounds when my head turns into a robot from Mission Impossible and I detect a familiar face, my favorite Gladiator! Not only was the man still posing as the same greasy gladiator using the same lines on tourists, our money did not change his career into something meaningful. Hubby did manage to get his picture (without him knowing) and I was able to experience a moment of payback of scoring a 2 for 1 picture with the same gladiator. Spuzon, this is for you!

Overall, the day was amazing, hot as Haiti but again, we ended our trip with a cone of Lemon Gelato. Ahhhhhh, I think I started a bad habit and horrible weight gain. Oh, who cares, when in Rome.........

On a side note, I must warn you, smiles were not as frequent in Rome due to Hubby being bored and tired of me yelling, "Honey, turn around, take a picture". We were getting very tired at this point of the trip.